Wow! Simply Wow!

Hattip and read more at Kottke

Water Sculpture from Shinichi Maruyama on Vimeo.

Read full post at the Hindu:

The “urulu seve” ritual was performed at the Kukke Subramanya temple here on Friday afternoon amid appeals from voluntary organisations to the Government and religious leaders to stop the practice. Made Snana, as the ritual is known, involves people rolling on the plantain leaves left by Brahmins after their meal during the annual jathra of the temple in Sullia taluk of Dakshina Kannada district.

Everyone has the prerogative to roll in whatever, whenever and however they want. Every culture has some form of religious obeisance that involves humbling the mind and body before God. But rolling in a ‘higher caste’ persons leftover food in the belief it will cure skin diseases??!! This requires a level of subservient thinking that is outright disturbing. What toll must this kind of thinking have in other aspects of the believer’s life? How superior must they think their fellow ‘brahmin’ is that they are willing to roll in their leftover food?

It may be an ‘innocuous’ custom as endowment minister V S Acharya says. The broader implications of this mentality is anything but.

Tags: Kukke Subramanya, Made Snaana, Urulu Seve

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We’re in the holiday spirit already, but are still stuck at work. So, here are some one-liners from Rajiv Satyal.

Santa shows up mysteriously all around the world, at every corner, but how can that be?  They’re all wanna-be-Santas, as the real one will come Christmas eve.  But until then, enjoy these fake ones from all over the world here.

Indian street vendors wait for customers as they sell Santa Claus masks ahead of Christmas near a traffic signal in Hyderabad, India, Thursday, Dec.16, 2010. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.) / BE

Try as they might, all the repressive governments and jail cells in the world will never silence freedom.

The acclaimed Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi was sentenced to six years in prison today, and banned from directing and producing films for the next 20 years, his lawyer said. Panahi, an outspoken supporter of Iran‘s opposition green movement, was convicted of colluding in gathering and making propaganda against the regime, Farideh Gheyrat told the Iranian state news agency, ISNA. (Guardian)